Italy becomes international force in Afghanistan

By David Fox

KABUL (Reuters) – The international force tasked with
keeping the peace in Afghanistan’s capital and other key areas
changes command on Thursday at a time when security in the
country is at the worst it has been since the Taliban’s fall.

Command of the 8,000 strong, NATO-led International
Security and Assistance force (ISAF), made up of troops and
support staff from 49 countries, will change from Turkey to
Italy in a largely symbolic ceremony that is likely to see
little change in how the force operates.

ISAF has been deployed mainly in Kabul after the Taliban
regime’s fall in 2001 as part of a mostly American coalition
force currently numbering around 28,000.

The six-monthly change in ISAF’s command comes amid
mounting violence ahead of the country’s parliamentary
elections scheduled for next month, which, following last
year’s presidential poll, will give Afghanistan a fully
democratically elected government for the first time ever.

Most of the violence has been kept out of the capital –
which is ISAF’s main operating area — and the fledgling Afghan
National Army and U.S.-led forces operating in the rugged
eastern and southern countryside have taken the brunt of the
Taliban-led insurgency.

Hundreds of people — including 36 U.S. soldiers — have
died since March, the bloodiest period since the Taliban’s fall
in late 2001.

But ISAF patrols are now more regular in the Afghan capital
– although they are still relaxed affairs that attract the
attention of passers-by, particularly children.

“We like ISAF,” Mohammed, a street urchin trying to hawk
fake designer sunglasses outside the force’s Kabul
headquarters, said in broken English.

“They buy our things and give us sweets,” he added.

AFGHAN PARTNERS

But ISAF’s relations with its Afghan partners have not
always been so free and easy.

Senior officers all insist they are there to “assist” the
Afghan government and its forces, but over the years many
privately admit that cooperation has not been all that it could
have been.

Language, culture, training and logistics have all played a
part — with the NATO-led force frequently complaining that
their Afghan counterparts just don’t have the resources to do
the job properly, and the locals complaining that the
foreigners didn’t know how things worked in Afghanistan.

“There is no question that ISAF has, almost to the letter
of its mandate, done a very good job,” said one Western
diplomat.

“Some people may say they have had the ‘easy task’ in
Kabul, but they have done it well. They have won hearts and
minds and kept the capital largely safe and secure.”

ISAF also has several hundred troops stationed in northern
and western parts of the country, regarded as stable compared
to the south and east where the Taliban and their allies are
mostly active.

And the force plans to deploy troops in the south and east
next year and has pledged to send an additional 2,000 soldiers
to help security for parliamentary polls next month.

The Afghan government says it expects no change in ISAF’s
operations in the capital — although some locals will be sorry
to see the end of the command by fellow Muslim nation Turkey.

The Turks won scores of friends around Kabul by organising
particularly Islamic community building activities such as mass
circumcisions for boys who missed out in the past because of
conflict.

“There will be no change as it is a regular one,” Khaliq
Ahmad, a spokesman in President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday
of the change.

“It would have no impact as in the past British, German and
French were in command.